Standing at the edge of the Universe

[white_polaris]

Silver eyes watch the Cauldron spin and swirl. It is the thing she protects more than anything else. She smiles, perhaps sadly as she stands in silence. The swirl of the cauldron is the only sound in the air. She moves to stand at the edge of the bridge

Comments

[waterfell]

She watches the cauldron, ignoring the woman. It's fitting somehow that she's returned to this place; perhaps it's even fitting that the woman beside her is a form of Sailor Moon. Mercury says nothing about it. She says nothing at all yet, her expression unreadable.

[white_polaris]

She says nothing. So long as Mercury makes no motion to attack the cauldron, Cosmos has no reason to attack her. She remains standing at the edge of the the platform.

[waterfell]

"This is where everything was supposed to end." Whether she knows of that final battle or whether she means something else, the cauldron was supposed to be an ending point, a finish line. She was supposed to be able to put everything behind her.

[white_polaris]

Her grip tightens only a little but she turns and gazes at Mercury finally.

"It is also a place of beginnings."

[waterfell]

"That's what I hate about it." Not the concept of renewal, precisely, but something else. "Nothing will ever end."

"I don't want to always be reminded of the past." Whether that ancient past, or the more immediate past.

[white_polaris]

She remained silent. Mercury's desire to run from the past was not something for her to decide. Here in the cauldron, all things past and present were decided.

[waterfell]

There's a difference between running and fatigue. She's had to see the same faces over and over, ghosts that should have stayed ghosts; and she's relived the same things over and over. Whatever she does feels futile when the nexus means the same enemy will just appear again later.

But with Cosmos' silence, Mercury turns away, taking in the sweep of this landscape at the end of space.

[white_polaris]

She continues to watch Mercury. Behind them was the Cauldron Palace and beyond that, the graveyard of the butterflies. The palace was created for the guardian of the cauldron. Galaxia had used it as a place to rule.

[waterfell]

"There's nothing for us to say to each other," Mercury notes Cosmos' silence. She pivots, and moves towards the palace with that sharp, echoing step.

[white_polaris]

"Was there something you wished me to say. And do you welcome yourself so freely to my home?"

[waterfell]

"Why not go if I want?" There's a hint of that heightened quality about the smile that comes to her lips, and she doesn't halt her progress. After all, the senshi palaces themselves are places of power. She'd like to see it this time.

[white_polaris]

A massive shield of light blocked the view of the palace and Mercury's path.

"You've become so arrogant little Ami," Cosmos said as she remained where she stood. "Did you think I would take lightly to the invasion of my home without my consent? The Nexus may have brought you to it, but it is my will if you enter. Perhaps you should ask little princess."

[waterfell]

Has Cosmos gone insane? It's her first honest thought because it makes no sense. Invasion?

Well. She already knew she'd never be welcomed by a version of the princess. It's fine. She already knew.

"I enjoyed your brief hospitality!" she tells Cosmos brightly. "Until later!" She has no intention of staying; an unstable princess is demonstrably dangerous. She disappears a moment later, in a flurry of the ever-present black rose petals.

[white_polaris]

She released the barrier and shook her head. She felt no remorse at her reaction, even if it was more than she should have done. She took no chances here in the cauldron.